Farm animals, such as cows and pigs, are often
just as strange and unfamiliar as lions and elephants to those who live
in urban environments. Lincoln Park's Farm-In-The-Zoo is an agricultural
showplace with a wide range of activities and animals to help introduce
city dwellers to Midwestern farm life. 
A five-acre, working farm with red barns housing dairy cows, horses, sheep, swine and poultry, the Farm-In-The-Zoo is a spot of sylvan countryside nestled in the heart of a bustling city. Exhibit areas like the Main Barn, Dairy Barn, Horse Barn and Livestock Barn, offer a non-stop variety of activities and a menagerie of domestic animals.
Decide for yourself - the chicken or the egg - as you view the miracle of a tiny chick pecking its way out of an egg at the walk-around chick-hatching exhibit.
The Main Barn hosts informal programs including butter-churning and wool-spinning, country cooking and crafts. The Dairy Barn provides the opportunity to observe cows being milked at 10 a.m., noon, and 2 p.m. daily and a unique interactive video "All About Cows."
The 4-H Children's Garden at the center of the farm features a variety of whimsically themed plots. Among them are a Pizza Patch that produces basil, tomatoes and onions, and a Circus Garden with popcorn and peanut plants. There's even a scarecrow to guard the crops from hungry birds. From dawn to dusk, Lincoln Park's Farm-In-The-Zoo brings the story of farming and animal husbandry to more than two million visitors annually, providing a lasting message about the importance of the agricultural industry to American society and the rest of the world. |
Watch zookeepers groom the horses
at the Horse Barn. Then venture into the Livestock Barn to
see a litter of piglets.